


Chasing Shadows

by Elise_Evlynn



Category: Original Work
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23315632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elise_Evlynn/pseuds/Elise_Evlynn
Summary: Mark Warren was expecting a normal day. His go bag was ready and packed, and he was excited for his first day in the field. He wasn’t however expecting the carnage of the war-torn Siren Kingdom. The city was scorched, and blood was everywhere. He wasn’t sure what happened, but he knew it wasn’t a good way to start his first day.





	1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

The fire was the first thing many woke up too. It was first believed that perhaps it was just someone’s fire in their hearth that had gotten out of control. The deafening sound of explosions quickly changed that assumption. The Siren Kingdom was under attack. 

They looked up to the ocean and saw the invaders. They manned a large ship, but it was unclear what kind it was. It didn’t look like anything pirates or idiotic heroes would sail. The stern and bow were curved in quite a bit, and it was ornately decorated with gold, sapphires, obsidian and other precious metals and gems. The sails was large and cut in a square shape with a large scarab with a shepherds crook and flog crossed on the sail. This ship was the cause of the destruction of the Siren Kingdom. 

The old and young sirens were taken away, either by air or sea, depending on their generation. The remaining sirens stayed behind and fought the intruders. The fight was bloody and hard. The intruders seemed more interested in ransacking the town then actually fighting. Funnily enough, they didn’t take anything. They seemed to be looking for something. The sirens were unsure what, but they finally were able to defeat the intruders. 

They tend to their wounded and start bringing the old and young back. 

“Tulio,” an elderly woman says. “The chief isn’t anywhere to be found. What are we going to do?” She frantically asks the middle-aged general. He takes in a deep breath, unsure of what to say. As the highest ranking general, he is the current chief until their chief is found, or until the successor to the title was old enough. 

“Call it in.” He finally says. “Tell the Council what has happened here today. And that we will need supplies.”


	2. Field Day

Mark smiles as he closes his suitcase and zips it shut. It’s the first day going into the field and he is pretty excited. Supposedly, he is going all the way to the Oceanic Region, which feels like a long way to him. He’s not used to traveling, but he is still excited nonetheless. With a spring in his step, the plucky twenty five year-old heads out of his little apartment.

He waves to the hot dog vendor on the corner, and to the ice cream man on the boardwalk, who somehow manages the Cali heat every year. He passes by the two adorable cats that fight for scraps in the alley, and waves to the policeman on the corner. ‘Life is good.’ Mark thinks to himself. ‘The sun is shining, I’m breathing, and well might I add, and I see a lot of smiling people.’ The young man silently says. 

After a nice, peppy twenty-three minute walk, Mark veers off into an alleyway. He looks around, making sure no one followed him and that the coast was clear. He pressed a hand to the brick wall, and says a spell under his breath. A portal blossoms open and he quickly steps through it. He is then greeted with the normal bustling scene of Fae commuting through the city, a couple of elves running the coffee shop and a few seedy looking banshees that run the local gang. He smiles and nods at commuters and heads to his new federal job at the Agency. 

He started working a few months ago as a paper-pusher, but was upgraded to working in the field a few weeks ago. He had to go through training and then was deemed ready to go into the field today, but he was still nervous. Breathing in, he opens up the door. 

Once inside the door, Mark is greeted with quite the scene. Apparently, Margie from forensics learned a new spell and was trying to show Paul from evidence, but it backfired and they both have giant cat paws now. Gina, the Head of the Agency’s secretary, was arguing with José, a satyr who just started working here the other day, about some sort of affair. Since he wasn’t entirely sure what the affair was, or who with, he didn’t get involved. Besides, Mark is trying to be a good employee, because Mark was determined to get employee of the month. After all, he graduated top of his class. (So he says.) Anyway, Mark is supposed to report to his head inspector immediately so he can head out to Oceania. He actually isn’t all that sure why they’re going out to Oceania, after all, it's chock full of sirens. Oh well.

“Took you long enough, Newbie.” The inspector says to him, putting out his cigarette. Inspector Lawrence is quite the peculiar fellow. First off, he’s an elf, from actual Tolkien Mythology, but… he’s rather short for an elf. He’s exactly five foot, and rumor has it he might be a half-breed. No one is entirely sure if it’s true, and if it is, no one know if he’s half-elf, half-human, half-elf, half-dwarf. All they know is that he’s tiny, but what Lawrence lacks in size, he more than makes up for in anger. Mark can’t quite grasp how someone so small could be so angry all the time. Mark shrugs, and smiles at Lawrence.

“Sorry ‘bout that boss. I got a late start this morning, and twenty-three minutes seem to be getting longer and longer.” Mark chuckles. Lawrence grunts and nods.

“Sure, whatever, I don’t have time to really reprimand you at the moment. We’ve gotta get going.” Lawrence shoves his hands into his pockets, turns on his heel, and heads off at a brisk pace. 

Mark catches up easily, after all he does have long legs compared to Lawrence, and starts to chat the poor inspector’s ear off. He asks why they’re going to the Oceanic Region, if Lawrence is worried about the sirens, are they new or old generation sirens, was there really a difference between the two, how will they get there, why did they have to go so early in the morning, does Mark get a badge, etc. Lawrence sighs heavily and looks at the Mark. 

“Did you not read your briefing?” 

Mark shakes his head and explains that he spilt coffee on it by mistake. Lawrence sighs again and they meet up with the rest of the team. 

Eliot, a fun-loving fae who often changes his size and pulls pranks. Basically, if it's an April Fool’s, run. Run so far away because this kid starts planning at thanksgiving what he’s going to do. And he is very extra and good at what he does. Assumed gay.

Lilith, the so called, “Ice Queen.” She is cold towards everyone, (that’s how she got her name. Not because of her bitchin’ ice powers.) Heck, Mark couldn't think of anyone that Lilith actually liked. She was snarky and condescending, with very little care about your feelings. Mark thinks that maybe, maybe she had a soft side. He just hadn’t found it. Very aromantic.

Finally, we have Glinda Aerwyna Upland the VI. She’s the only witch on the team, and comes from a prestigious magical family. (Which one could tell from her name.) Glinda was only a few months older than Mark but she took all the honors classes and graduated as the Valedictorian of the class above them. Despite being incredibly booksmart, the girl was dense. Extremely pansexual.

“Alright Glinda, we need you to take us to the Oceanic Region.” Lawrence says. “Can you do that?” He asks and she nods. 

“Of course. That’s child’s play.” Glinda says cockily, cracking her knuckles and gathering the group together. Once they’re tight enough, Glinda forms the famous pink bubble around them. They lift into the air and off they go, headed to the Caribbean. The bubble was stifling, and Lilith complained about the tight squeeze, even though Eliot turned small. Lawrence sighs for a third time. He definitely did not sign up for this. The trip wasn’t too terribly long, and Glinda could see the islands of Oceania. 

“Where we landing boss?” She asks and Lawrence points to a small patch of sea. 

“There, the Siren Kingdom.” Mark thought Glinda was about to drop everyone then and there as she stopped navigating and looked at Lawrence. 

“Pardon me sir?” She asks, mouth a gap. “The Siren Kingdom? Do you know what monsters live there? They drown people like us.” Glinda sputters, but Lawrence only nods grimly. 

“Look, I don’t wanna go either, but orders are orders.” She sighs and nods, her curly, golden ponytail bobbing along with her head. They go down to the patch of sea below them, and pass through the barrier that keeps the kingdom hidden from sailors and unwanted eyes. They perch themselves onto a beautiful alabaster walkway, and the bubble gives a tiny pop. 

The team looks around warily, but the pristine, alabaster city of Sirens was deserted. Lilith looks around, pushing her asymmetrical bangs out of the way. 

“Empty.” She finally concludes. The others nod and start to walk around the city. Columns were broken and fallen. Some fires that hadn’t been put out yet were still smoking and slowly dying away. It was eerie and silent, the roar of the sea was the only sound that could be heard. Mark opened his mouth, about to say something, but was cut off by a sudden sound. It was beautiful and lyrical. Someone was singing, perhaps playing a stringed instrument. “You hear that?” He asks, completely entranced. “It’s beautiful.” Mark starts to go towards the sound but Lilith stops him.

“Careful, Mark. That’s more than likely a siren… who knows what those sea-demons are trying to do.” He shakes her arm.

“Have you maybe considered that they aren’t that bad? What if they’re just like us? They could be scared and begging for help.” He counters and the tall woman sighs. 

“Alright, fine. But I’m not scooping your guts out of the sea.” She says harshly. Suddenly, the music grows. More voices have joined this impromptu choir, and they sounded beautiful. The rag-tag team slowly advances forward, deeper into the city. Eventually, they find the voices. It was a group of children, young children, that have gathered around each other, a few of them playing lyres. 

They finish their song and Mark begins to applaud them. The children jump and turn their terrified eyes to Mark. They all had golden brown skin, teal hair of various shades and large, scared eyes that ranged from deep violet to a beautiful cerulean blue. The oldest of the bunch seemed to be nine, and the youngest was a toddler. The oldest one, a boy, shielded the younger kids. He tried to put on a menacing face, but Mark could see the fear behind his eyes. 

“Who are you?” the small boy squeaks. Lawrence steps forward, explaining that they were sent to help with the wreckage. 

“We’re not going to hurt you.” Glinda adds, with a soft smile. The young boy doesn’t look convinced, as a matter of fact, his scowl deepens. His mouth opens, but one of the younger girls wriggles out from under them. Her hair was up in tiny pigtails, and her deep indigo eyes were intelligent and bright. When she spoke up, she didn’t sound like a toddler at all. 

“You’re from the Agency aren’t you? That means you would want to speak to father. He’s in charge for right now. I’ll take you.” She motioned for them to follow her, and Mark shrugs and follows her. The others soon take suit.

They wander through the broken city, coming to the heart of it. More sirens start to come out of the rubble, others look like worker bees as they pass to and fro. None of them pay too much attention to Mark or the others. They were too busy cleaning up the city, treating the wounded, and mourning over their dead. 

“It’s so sad..” Glinda says, and Mark remembers how much of a big heart she has, even if she doesn’t care for sirens. 

“Yeah..” He nods and puts a hand on her shoulder. There was a man in the center of it all who was giving instructions. The young toddler runs up to him, tugging on his shorts and pointing to Mark and his team. The two exchange a few words, and then he walks over to the team. He had the same teal hair and brown skin as the children. His eyes were a bright indigo, but they were sunken in slightly and he had bags underneath them. He was tired and Mark could tell. This man was shirtless and wore swim trunks. He was covered in tribal tattoos and wore a necklace made of leaves. 

“Hi,” he said, shaking Lawrence's hand. “My name is name is Tulio. I’m the temporary chief until the original chief is found. Either dead or not.” He had a rather nice voice, a deep, yet soothing voice. Lawrence nods and introduces himself and the rest of the team. 

Tulio was about to explain what all they need them to when Mark saw someone emerge from the water. It was a young boy, with a half-shaved head. Mark had never seen a siren breach the water before, and was curious what happened when they hit land. This siren must have been related to Tulio as well since he had the same brown skin, teal hair, and beautifully, startling violet eyes. His eyes stuck out against the rest of him and they seemed like they would sparkle and light up if he were happy. Now though, they were cloudy and dark due to his sadness. They were slightly red in the whites, and puffy as well. He had been crying. Mark felt a twang of sympathy for the strange boy. Sirens could feel just like us. Like anybody else. 

Tulio turns to him, smiling at him with a sad fondness. He motions the boy forward, and the young stranger begins to walk towards him. The boy was small and frail, and wore a simple white tank and some swim trunks like his father. Mark noticed that they both had the same tattoo on their right upper arm. It was one of those tattoos that wrapped around the arm and had a black and white zig-zag design. Mark felt his mouth open slightly as he watched the boy come to them. God… he couldn’t be any older than nineteen, and his eyes showed how much heartache he had seen and lived. 

Tulio wrapped an arm around the boy and smiled at the team. “This is Rowan, my second-eldest. Rowan, this is the team that the Council sent.” Rowan simply nods, removing himself from underneath his father.

“Excellent. I take it they know what they’re doing?” He says, his voice void of emotion. It was a slightly feminine voice, but not too feminine. If that made sense. Rowan also had a British accent funnily enough. No one else did, but him. Everything about him seemed… perfect? Mark wasn’t sure if that was the word for Rowan, but all Mark knew, he was whipped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to add super quickly, that certain characters may share lineage with other famous fictional or sometimes real characters. Timelines are still iffy as it is a work in progress, so if you see something that doesn't make sense chronologically involving lineage, don’t hesitate to tell me! Thank you!


End file.
